EverGreen Farm

CSA Newsletter - Week #8

Busy!  Busy!  Busy!

To be honest, I haven't even thought about taking any pictures of the farm this week.  All I have on the brain are veggies, veggies, and more veggies.  As I was trying to fall asleep last night, I kept seeing spinach leaves.  In my dream, I was picking big beautiful spinach leaves.  Don't know why this was on my mind as the spinach is way past its prime this time of year.  I'm sure after a day of harvesting something else my tired brain will shift to a new topic, maybe the kale, peas or carrots. 

This week your share will include:

• Salad Mix - A Romaine Mix (flat leaves only, no frilly leaves)  I suggest using it to make a Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad (see our recipe from the link on this website)
• Carrots - cut off green tops ASAP to maintain freshness
• Braising Mix - A combination of the last of the Kale and Swiss Chard
• Italian Parsley
• Shell Peas - these are the kind that are usually popped open to eat the peas inside, instead of eating the whole pod

Shain apologizes for not contributing to the website this week.  He is almost through reading a book which I can't wait to get my hands on.  No it's not Harry Potter, it is called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver.  It is about a family who eats only locally grown foods for an entire year.  He highly recommends it!

Here is a new recipe contributed by a fellow CSA member.

Jill's totally Headie Hummus

1 can black beans or kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 Tablespoon cumin
juice of 2 lemons
bunch fresh cilantro
1 small purple onion or 4 green onions
4 cloves garlic (or garlic scapes)
2 Tablespoons sesame tahini
splash olive oil (optional)
splash sesame oil (optional)
splash plain yogurt (optional)
salt, pepper, cayenne, dill (all to taste)

Blend in a food processor on high speed until creamy.  Eat with fresh veggies, crackers, pita or on top of a green salad.  Garnish with Kalamata olives.  Flavor is best if it sits in the fridge overnight or longer.

Have a good week and enjoy!  :)  Tara

Ten Rules of Biodynamic Farming

Ten Rules of Biodynamic Farming
As Presented by Trauger Groh

Summary by Shain Saberon

In Farms of Tomorrow Revisited by Trauger Groh, the author summarizes Rudolph Steiner’s writings on agriculture.  His approach to agriculture is broadly characterized as biodynamic farming.  I believe in many tenants of this method; therefore, it is useful for you, the consumer, to understand some of these ideas.

Rule 1:  No Non-organics On The Farm

I believe the most important idea presented in this work is that “Gardeners and farmers should remain in the realm of the living with all measures and applications.”  In my opinion, this excludes most applications of minerals, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and mineral substances in animal feed.  At EverGreen farm we follow this advice.

Further it is explained, “The only exceptions to these rules would be lime for amending soil and salt for animal consumption.  If these items are used, it is best to remain as close to the realm of living as possible.”  This leads me to believe that greensand and ground oyster shell are also acceptable.  Many organic farmers I know liberally apply these mineral amendments to their compost and soil.  I believe our soil will most benefit from the trace amounts of several minerals available in greensand.  Greensand is the mineralized remains of ancient seabeds and is clearly from the “realm of the living.”

Last of all Steiner recommends, “ For animal, especially ruminants, shrubs should be available as a forage (herbal plants of the families labieate, compoitae, and umbelliferae).  Pigs can be kept free of supplements if they are allowed contact with living soil.”   Currently we have a few shrubs that our goats and horses both graze, but improvements need to be made in this realm on our farm.  We absolutely follow the advice given on the keeping of swine.

Rule 2:  Keep Animals on the Farm to Supply Animal Manure

Another of Rudolph Steiner’s observations was to supply the necessary amount of animal manure “necessary for healthy plant growth by keeping on the farm a sufficient number of animals in the right harmonious combination.”  Later Groh states, “It is best to have a mixed population of animals.  Most important, the farm should have chickens, pigs, horses, and goats.  Cows are also a healthy addition but are secondary to the first set of animals mentioned.”  At EverGreen farm we follow these principles.  Each year we continue to better understand the benefits of keeping animals and then using the compost from their manures to feed the soil that in turn feeds them with rich grasses and leftover crops.

Rule 3:  Feed Your Animals From Your Farm

Another principle presented by Steiner is that animals on your farm should be nurtured with feeds that are grown on your farm.  He argues that animals, plants, and macrobiotic life forms in the soil adapt to each other raising the level of health for all through a symbiotic process.  At EverGreen Farm chickens, goats, pigs, and horses are feed from pasture and left over vegetables not meeting our standards for sale.  Although this only is possible for one-half the year, we feel it is a giant step in the right direction.

Rule 4:  Grow a Great Diversity of Cash and Cover Crops

Steiner believed in diversity, not the monoculture that dominates the American agricultural landscape of today.  Modern industrialized agricultural practices require ever increasing amounts of chemical inputs to combat various infestations that arise when agriculturist plant only one crop.
Steiner declared, “Aim for as great of a diversity of plants on the farm as possible in combination with, and as part of the crop rotation.”  Later he explained, “Fertility and productivity in nature arise out of diversity.”  Besides cash crops, a well-managed farm is abundant with grasses, clovers, and deep-rooting plants like alfalfa.”

At EverGreen Farm we grow over thirty vegetable varieties.  Whenever possible, we follow these crops with a fall or spring planting of rye grass and field peas.  Not only do we advocate a multiplicity of crops, but we also rotate the plants we grow to combat the negative natural consequences caused by uniformity.

Rule 5:  Fertilize Fields with Animal and Plant Manures

Steiner pushed for farmers to “Recognize that the circulation of carbon, or organic substance, throughout the soil, plants, and the air is the basis of permanent fertility.  This circulation expresses itself in the creation and breakdown of humus substance in the soil.”  To achieve this we apply both animal manures and plant based compost to our fields at EverGreen Farm.

Rule 6:  Encourage Silica by Encouraging Living Soils

Another tenant of biodynamics argued was to “Strengthen silica circulation in the soil by encouraging microbiotic processes.”  At our farm we achieve this by applying animal and plant manures, avoiding synthetic substances (especially petrochemical fertilizers) and tilling the ground as little as possible.

Silica is primarily a product of living organism found in living soils.  The application of green and animal manures and the avoidance of the application of synthetic substances has already been thoroughly discussed. However, the last part of this rule touches on another important principle—no/low till farming.  At our farm we are continually tinkering with rotations and systems that will allow us to reduce the amount of tillage on our farm.  Admittedly, we have room to improve in this area 

Rule 7:  Create a Balance Among all Living Things

“Create a harmonious balance in the soil, plants, animals, and the landscape. This should include a balance between field, pasture, and wetland.”   I believe we have made significant improvement in the last few years in our balance of field and pasture.  At this moment, regrettably, we have no wetland.  In spite of our limited space, this is a concern and an issue we plan to address.

Rule 8:  A Natural Environment-Hedgerows and Ponds

“Restore the destroyed natural environment.”  This is primarily achieved by encouraging natural hedgerows and wetlands.  Steiner admonished us to cultivate variety of trees and shrubs in hedgerows that create windbreaks to control soil erosion and provide habitat for beneficial animals.  Also, he advocated the creations of ponds to encourage the formation of dew and provide habitat for other beneficial animals and insects unique to wetlands.  This is another weakness of our farm, and we hope to correct this imperfection too.

Rule 9:  Biological Weed and Pest Controls-Crop/Animal Rotations

“Implement biological weed and pest controls.  Specifically, practice rotating crops, fields, pastures, and consequently animals.”  We follow this practice religiously.

Rule 10:  Follow Natural Rhythms

“Reestablish a rhythmical natural order in animal husbandry and field care that is connected to the rhythms of the earth and its cosmic environment of the sun, moon, and other planets.”  This is where biodynamics loses me.  However, I have an open mind.  If this principle can be proven beneficial to me in a logical and observable form, I will embrace it.

CSA Newsletter #7

Again this week our farm was host to a group of students from the Lower Valley.  Bob, their teacher and an EverGreen Farm CSA Member, brought a group of about twelve 5th and 6th graders to experience the farm.  This time they came to harvest some food to take with them on an over night camp to Cottonwood Lake. 

With some guidance, they harvested salad, onions and garlic. 

Then they got some experience to learn what "hand crafted" produce is really all about.  (No machines washing the produce on our farm.)

This week your share will include:

Salad Mix
Cilantro & Parsley (in the same bag, but bunched separately)
Dill
Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Swiss Chard

If you ever find yourself with "extra" herbs and don't want them to go to waste, I have a helpful hint for freezing them.  This tip works especially well with parsley and cilantro.  Just place the herb in a blender  (stems can be removed first if you desire) and puree with as little water as necessary to get the leaves to chop.  Then pour the mixture into ice cube trays.  Once solid, the herb cubes can be frozen in a freezer bag and used as needed.  The herb's true flavor is maintained incredibly well, it smells and tastes so fresh.  Just pop a cube into a soup, mashed potatoes, spaghetti sauce, or whatever.  Or you can put a cube in a strainer and allow the water to melt off, then add the herb to your cooking. 

One of Shain's favorite ways to cook with fresh parsley is to make something he calls Fried Pasta.  Here is the recipe:

Fried Pasta

Cook angel hair pasta per package instructions, drain and refrigerate until cool.  Meanwhile, fry one package of bacon.  Remove from pan and crumble bacon strips when sufficiently cool.  Mince 2 to 3 cloves of garlic and set aside.  In a large frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease and 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Brown the minced garlic in grease/oil. 

Remove stems from parsley and coarsley chop, you will need approximately 1 cup.  When garlic is browned, add cooked pasta to the frying pan and fry until lightly cooked and warmed through.  In a bowl, mix fried pasta and garlic, 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon, and chopped parsley.  Toss until well mixed.  Serve immediately.

What is it?  A strange new crop we are growing?  A cactus?  This ??? looked so cool today as I was walking around the garden that I had to take a picture.  Now I've got this idea that I want to include YOU in a little guessing game.  There will be an extra surprise in next week's share for the CSA member who can first email me the correct identification of this photo.  The winner will be posted on the blog later.  

Edit:  Congratulations to Matt D. who correctly identified this photo as Swiss chard stems left behind after the leaves have been picked.  I love all the colorful stems from this Brite Lights variety.  They are truly beautiful to me.  Thanks Matt (and others) for playing my little game.

This is a picture of me (Tara, in the middle), my daughter Megan, and my father-in-law Max, at the Farmers Market in Jackson last Saturday.  It is where we have been and will be spending our Saturday mornings through September 15th.  Max drives up to the farm each week from Ogden to help us harvest and go to market.  Megan is in "training".  It is exhausting work getting the produce ready, and working our stand selling it all, but we do have a lot of fun.  We especially like meeting people face-to-face who eat our food and we love hearing their compliments when they return the following week for more.  If you are near The Jackson Town Square on a Saturday morning, between 8 and 11 am, stop by to say Hello.

CSA Newsletter - Week #6

Hello to you all,

In CSA Newsletter #5 I showed you a picture of the pea plants growing up a nice trellis of barley.  I think I jinxed us by telling you our secret of planting peas because...  well, I the picture below says a lot.

This is what that same row of peas looks like now, after a brief but powerful wind storm swept through our place last Saturday evening.  (Those are mostly peas laying on the ground to the left, no longer growing up that nice trellis of barley to the right.)   But like I said, our odds are only about 50% of this technique being successful.  No real harm done, we just have to pick up the vines off the ground now so we can pick your peas.

This week your share will include:

Salad Mix
Spinach - probably the last of the season
Cilantro
Garlic Scapes - the last of the season
Peas - Snap peas or snow peas, depending on your pick-up location (don't worry, we'll be fair and rotate who gets the different types of peas each week, there just weren't enough to give both kinds to everyone)

Produce update:  the peas are starting to come on, carrots and beets are coming soon.  Next week there will be parsley.  There are a few tiny tomatoes on the vines. 

Bad news:  we have a major aphid infestation in the kale.  The nasty little buggers have wiped out about half of our kale planting.  There are millions of aphids on the undersides of the kale leaves and they don't wash off.  We are hoping they don't spread too far in the garden.  We've experienced quite a few bug problems in the crops growing in field #2 (which were mostly early season greens, and my favorite Japanese turnips) so the plan is to rotate these crops over to a new field and plant field #2 with garlic.  Most bugs don't like garlic.  We are always trying to find ways to out-smart the bugs.

We had our first Farmers Market of the 2007 season last Saturday in Jackson, only 10 more to go.  I feel like it was quite a success.  It was nice meeting a few Jackson CSA members who stopped by to introduce themselves.

I am sorry I haven't posted any new recipes lately.  If you have something you'd like to share with us, send it to me via email.   Meanwhile here are the directions to make this yummy omelet Shain made me for lunch today.

Thinly slice garlic scapes and saute in butter with sliced mushrooms until cooked.  Meanwhile, tear swiss chard and spinach into 1 inch pieces, discarding stems.  Add  greens to cooked mushrooms and scapes and wilt in more butter or chicken broth.  Grease an omelet skillet with butter, then add wilted greens/scapes/mushroom mixture and spread evenly in skillet.  Beat 4 to 5 eggs and pour over saute mixture.  Top with hot pepper jack cheese, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook slowly over medium low heat until eggs are cooked on top (dry but not crusty).  Fold and serve. 

Help Needed For More Local Food Providers

By Shain Saberon

(Photo above:  New York style steak from local beef producer Joe Nield.)

Congratulations!  I applaud each and every one of you for supporting EverGreen Farm.  However, more has to be done for the organic/buy-local movement to reach its potential.  I offer seven more suggestions that I believe will encourage more local food production.

#1.  Obtain as much of your daily food from local farmers as possible.  If you eat meat, seek a local organic rancher first.  If a purist does not exist, I believe it is more beneficial to buy from a local rancher who is mostly “organic” than to buy factory farmed organic from the supermarket.

#2.  I have personally learned that support, praise, and encouragement are strong motivators that encourage food producers to change.  This grows the movement.  So whenever local farmers exist that are not “organic,” mention to them that if they would convert you would support them with even more of your purse.  Would one of our local dairies convert to organic if one hundred locals signed and sent them a petition requesting they change some of their practices?

#3.  When you cannot purchase local or regional foods, buy organic.  This, at least, reduces the toxic toll of industrialized agriculture on our planet.

#4.  Write your local and state representatives demanding legislation that strengthens small farms and local economies.

#5.  Demand a farm bill from local, state, and federal representatives that limits the power of factory farms.  These mega-farms are mostly extensions of multi-national corporations.  Petition your representatives for the elimination of undue influence from corporate lobbyist on food legislation. 

#6.  Demand a farm bill that encourages a transition from factory to small farms. This was the original mandate of the USDA before it was corrupted and taken over by multinational agricultural, pharmaceutical, electronic, chemical, and other industrial corporations (the biggest multinational players are Monsanto, ADM, Cargill, Tyson Foods, Kraft Foods, Wal-Mart, Physer, Dupont, and Digital-Angel Electronics).  Watch the movie The Future of Food for detailed information on this topic.

#7.  Find and bookmark the following organizations on the Internet that are active in this cause:  Cornucopia, The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Stop Animal Id.Org, The Organic Food Institute, Slow Foods, and Bioneers.  Each of the listed organizations is an excellent resource in its own distinct food domain.

CSA Newsletter - Week #5

Can't get enough of these yummy salads.  This one has spinach, grapes. red onion, bits of bacon, carmelized almonds, queso blanco goat cheese and is topped with Brianna's poppy seed salad dressing.

This week you share will include:

Salad Mix
Swiss Chard
Kale
Radishes
Garlic Scapes
Cilantro

I sincerely apologize if you are ever missing one of the items which is supposed to be in your weekly share.  We are do our best to divide the shares up as accurately as possible each week, but there are bound to be times when we aren't perfect.  If you will let me know, I will do my best to make it up to you the following week.  Otherwise, we appreciate your understanding.

So many people have questions about garlic scapes and have a hard time visualizing where they grow on the garlic plant.  Here's another photo.  The arrows are pointing to the scapes, which we simply snap off with our fingers.  Can you see them?  They look a bit like little curly piggy tails.

Next up is a picture of the beautiful snow pea blossoms, they are a pretty shade of purple.

Shain plants the peas along with a row of oats or barley (which you can see on the left side of this picture).  The two grow side by side with the oats acting as a trellis so the peas will have something to grow up, instead of sprawling on the ground.  This usually works, unless a strong wind comes through and knocks the peas off the oats.  Our odds of this happening are about 50%.  But when it does work, it is so much easier to pick the peas.  :)

Why I Farm

By Shain Saberon

Some don’t believe that people and the earth are in jeopardy.  Many who do believe we are at risk cannot see beyond their chosen cause or focus; be it greenhouse gases, environmental pollution, animal rights, food safety, farmland preservation, religious interpretation, endangered species, hunger, war, pestilence, disease, corporate malfeasance, or moral degradation.  In each and every case the fight has often been to treat the symptoms and not the cause.  This seriously aggravates the problems.  For example, biodeisel will not save us from global warming; it will hasten it as it speeds the poisoning and depletion of our soil resources.  A centralized data base maintaining the whereabouts of every small farmer’s poultry and goats (with colored asterisks for locations of feedlots and pig factories) will not protect the food supply from pandemic diseases, bacterial infestation, or terrorist infiltration.  It, instead, will increase the likelihood of these problems by providing dangerous exemptions for industrial producers and creating a readily available computerized road map of our food system frailties.  Setting farmlands aside in park-like mode does not preserve them as farmlands.  Instead it adds to the net loss.  And yelling and screaming that the fighting must stop while refusing to see that our economy thrives on war profits is like facing a household fan into a high wind . . . the more farms we have, the greater the opportunity of success for each.  The landscape will heal, the countryside will welcome the return of vibrant small farm communities, the economy will strengthen, the capacity to feed people will increase in quantity and health, the immune systems of an ever growing number of people will improve, governments will move offshore, the moral base will once again rise up from the truths of actual working, and the ranks of the hungry will shrink day by day.

Lynn Miller, editor/publisher of The Small Farmers Journal, Winter 2007, Volume 31.  Lynn Miller is a horse farmer, writer, publisher, small farmer activist, and painter.  His tireless works have breathed life into the current organic small farm movement for more than thirty years.

I cannot articulate better than Lynn Miller the reasons I farm and choose to support as many local food producers as possible.  Many of our world’s problems can be solved with the simple acts of farming and supporting those brave enough to advance the cause.

My personal evolution from a recovering suburbanite to a local food producer is neither complex nor peculiar.  Two decades ago as part of my undergraduate honors coursework, I studied eastern philosophy under the guidance of Brahman Hindu priestess.  As I consumed the writings and philosophy of Gandhi, I determined then to make the world a better place.  He eloquently stated, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  After reading that declaration, I decided my calling would be to teach literature to our nation’s youth; in them I saw more hope than in my own generation.  Furthermore, I am passionate about flyfishing, so I also supported Trout Unlimited to protect local ecosystems.  Then, while buying some local organic produce, I met Ryan Foxley.  A friendship germinated and a new journey began for me.  The rest is history.  EverGreen farm was born, and small scale farming in Star Valley continues.  We are excited to play a small but hopefully significant role in our local community.

Thank you for sharing our dream!

Our Newest Farm Kid

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Well it finally happened.  On Saturday June 30th, Trinidy had her kids.  I missed the delivery by about 30 minutes and found Trinidy doing her best to clean the girls up and get them moving.  Sadly, one did not make it.  She was lifeless when I first came upon them in the barn and there was nothing I could do.  One of the realities of raising livestock, but still not enjoyable. 

"Vixi" is the surviving doeling.  My son, Eli, picked out her name.  It is Latin and means "to be alive, to live".  She seems to be doing well.  Although I'm not confident in her eating skills because I haven't personally seen her nursing.  I keep going out and putting her up to her mama to eat but she isn't interested, I'm hoping that means she just ate and is full.  She is up and walking around, so I'm not too worried. 

Goat kids are one of the funnest things to have on a farm.  If you have the opportunity, you are welcome to bring YOUR kids out and hold Vixi and see the other animals we have here:  ducklings, ducks, chickens, baby pigs, Zip the dog, any one of our cats (we have an excellent rodent control program), and all the other goats.